Broken Arrow 18K M30-39: Klinger edges Brackett in a 20-second thriller at altitude

• Neil Klinger (1:55:33) wins the M30-39 field of 92 at 10:20/mi — the closest finish at the top, with Caleb Brackett (2nd, 1:55:53) just 20 seconds back.
• Caleb Brackett ran the 2nd-fastest High Camp→Finish split in the entire field — a blistering close that nearly erased Klinger's lead.
• Florent Dechard (4th, 2:06:22) and Jared Lopez (5th, 2:07:13) both posted top-10 High Camp→Finish splits, with just 51 seconds separating them at the line.
• Jared Lopez returns to Broken Arrow having gone 8th overall among men in 2025 (1:47:24) — his 5th-place M30-39 finish this year came 19:49 slower, a reminder of how much the mountain can vary race to race.

Neil Klinger crossed in 1:55:33 to claim the M30-39 title, but he had to earn every second of it. Caleb Brackett was hunting him all the way to the finish line, posting the 2nd-fastest High Camp→Finish split in the field — a closing surge that cut the gap to a mere 20 seconds after more than 90 minutes of racing on a course that climbs from 6,200 to nearly 8,800 feet. Klinger, for his part, had already been doing real work on the Snow King→KT 22 segment, running the 4th-fastest split there. Twenty seconds at the finish line is a razor-thin cushion when your pursuer is that strong on the descent.

Travis Lavin rounded out the podium in 2:01:51 (10:54/mi), finishing nearly six minutes behind Brackett but well clear of the chase pack. He posted the 7th-fastest KT 22→Siberia split in the field, showing his own strength on that middle stretch of the course. Behind him, Florent Dechard (4th, 2:06:22) and Jared Lopez (5th, 2:07:13) waged a quieter battle — both men strong on the final High Camp→Finish push, separated by under a minute at the line.

Lopez's story carries some extra weight. He was 8th among men here in 2025, finishing in 1:47:24 — a time that would have won today's M30-39 field by over eight minutes. That's not a knock on today's effort; it's a testament to how demanding this course can be, with the thin air above 7,500 feet demanding respect regardless of fitness. From 6th through 20th, the field spread across nearly 40 minutes, with Derek Yarra (6th, 2:10:29), Scott Vizzusi (7th, 2:14:47), and Ellis Newton (8th, 2:15:28) leading a deep and competitive pack through the Palisades terrain.